Oil Minister: Iran Exempted from OPEC’s Output Reduction Decision

Reduction Decision
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh underlined his country’s decision to continue membership in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, saying that Tehran has been exempted from OPEC’s decision to decrease crude production due to the US sanctions.
Iran intends to stay in the OPEC and have coexistence with its neighbors, Zanganeh said.
However they accepted Iran to be exempted, he added.
Zanganeh stressed the fact that the resolution gave permission to OPEC secretary general and the chairman to exclude those countries which had special conditions.
He went on to say that Iran is completely exempted from output reduction decision.
Commenting on the ambiguities regarding reduction of Iran oil production in proportion to total OPEC production, Zanganeh said, “We have no plan for reducing oil production.”
On November 5, the US Treasury Department reinstated all sanctions on Iran lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal.
According to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the sweeping sanctions see 700 people blacklisted, including people who were granted relief under the 2015 deal, as well as over 300 new names.
The Trump administration has agreed to allow eight countries to continue purchasing Iran’s crude oil after Washington’s sanctions on Tehran took place.
In relevant remarks on Tuesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stressed Washington’s failure to prevent his country’s oil exports, expressing pleasure that crude sales had even increased after the US sanctions.
“Part of my meeting today with the oil minister pertained to a discussion of the conditions of oil sales. Thanks God, we are in suitable and good conditions. The Americans wanted to prevent our oil exports and I clearly tell people that our oil exports have improved after November 4 (the day US imposed oil sanctions against Iran) compared to the past,” President Rouhani said after a joint meeting with the parliament speaker and the judiciary chief in Tehran.
He stressed Americans’ failure to block Iran’s oil supplies, and said they also made attempts to dissuade OPEC members from decreasing production but they failed.
“Our oil sales will stay the same course that it was before this (OPEC) meeting,” Rouhani said